Why it works: Cream and lobster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,050 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Lobster Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the flour and stir until combined.
Pour in the cream and mix well.
Season with salt, pepper, and sherry wine.
Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.
Add the beaten yolks to the sauce.
Cook until thick.
Stir in the chopped lobster.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Cream + lobstertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,050 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and carries flavor as the base of the roux.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce with the butter as a roux.
- Cream
- Forms the body of the sauce and gives it a rich, smooth texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce further and add richness when gently cooked.
- Lobster
- Provides the main seafood flavor and tender pieces in the sauce.
The step that matters
Cook until thick. Egg yolks thicken at gentle heat, and if the sauce gets too hot after they are added they can curdle or scramble. Cook slowly and keep the sauce below a simmer.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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